Comment: Money skills are to be taught in schools - but the
surprise decision was obliging schools to conduct lessons on state spending.
Now, what about the polticians?

Could it be that policymakers are responding to common sense and listening to the great British public?

Judging by the new national curriculum confirmed this week by the Department for Education, it might just be happening.

Not only has personal finance education been added as a compulsory element for the first time in England (it is already taught in the rest of the UK), but lessons will also explain public finances.

This is the sort of news that can all too easily be passed over but the impact could be seismic and felt for decades.

Recent generations have lost touch with the basics instilled in their grandparents – spend what you earn.

With easy credit waved under our noses, consumers' combined debts have ballooned, hitting nearly £1.5 trillion. They have since eased back, but that is not the trend. The mountain of borrowed money is expected to grow further. Previous estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility suggested they could exceed £2 trillion within a few years.

Our addiction to borrowing remains undiminished. Lenders can offer loans with rates of 5,000pc and be swamped by demand, as seen in the growth of payday lending. The response of Britons struggling to make ends meet is still to borrow more rather than find ways to spend less.

Teaching basic budgeting and interest rates on credit cards in schools can only help mitigate this. If the decision had been taken a decade ago, when the debt obsession was emerging, then maybe we would already be seeing the results.

Today's politicians could also go further. New research from the Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG), which has tirelessly campaigned to get money taught in schools, shows that most children aged eight to 11 are shopping online, are buying apps and have bank accounts.

Six out of 10 have bought something online by the age of 12.

Personal finance skills will not be taught to children until the age of 11. Other research has shown that money habits are formed as early as age seven.

PFEG and other campaigners such as Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, are right to keep pushing for more.

Equally notable is the decision, after public consultation and badgering from PFEG, to teach children from the age of 14 how the Government balances its own books, or fails to.

The amount owed by the state, borrowed on the behalf of taxpayers, has grown from £400bn to £1.4 trillion in a decade, according to the official measure, and will keep climbing for several years. Other analysts suggest the real figure is far higher.

With Labour seemingly still wedded to the idea of spending Britain back to financial health and the Conservatives unwilling to take the toughest decisions that would reduce what we owe rather than just slow its growth, maybe the public finance lessons should be taught not just in schools but in the halls of Westminster.